Closer to the Edge
by Chika Croi
Summary: What happens when these two very dominant and very aggressive personalities clash in some twisted version of a romance? I write a drabble series about them, that's what happens. Each chapter is a different prompt. YAOI. Male Slash. Homosexual Scenes. Boy on Boy romance. Whatever the hell you want to call it. Be fantastic and R&R.
1. Seeing Red

**Author's Note:** Hello everyone. :3 So, my Kurama/Hiei drabble series has been pretty successful. My one shot with Yusuke/Hiei went rather well, too. Even better, I've gotten a few request to continue. Normally I had reserves about this couple because they both have such dominant and aggressive personalities, but I decided to give them a try and create a drabble series for them as well. Partly because it's been requested. Partly because the amount of decent Yusuke/Hiei fics on this site is pathetic.

Now, these will be different than The Crow and the Butterfly in terms of how it's set up. There will be no word limits in this one, and I also won't be using songs or specific prompts. Each chapter will be a different prompt, will range in length from awkwardly short to ridiculously long, they will not be in any order or sequence, and will either be Canon scenes that I've interpreted (like this first chapter, for example) or scenes that I've just made up (will still take place within the Canon series and timeline though). This whole thing is mostly rated T, however there may be a few rated M scenes, which I will forewarn everyone at the start of that scene. I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think. (:

Closer to the Edge is a song by 30 Seconds to Mars. I highly suggest you listen to it because it's fantastic.

**Disclaimer: **If you recognize it, I don't own it.

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**Closer to the Edge**

_Prompt 001: Seeing Red_

To say that I wasn't scared shitless at the thought of facing off against Hiei would not only be a lie but a downright laughable con. The psychotic maniac who apparently had it in for every human wasn't going to stop unless I stopped him, which…now that I come to think of it, is pretty damn stupid. Koenma must be out of his fucking mind. Not that he gives a shit, sitting pretty in his office and waiting impatiently for me to bring the artifacts back. But hey, as long as I bring them back, then it's not a problem.

My boss is an ass. Then again, he's a toddler. I suppose I should be worrying about that instead. Go figure.

All right, what was the worst-case scenario? I go into the warehouse and Hiei fries my ass and I die. Been there, done that. Dying wasn't so scary. Then again, it wasn't just the human race that was on the line, it was Keiko's. I wasn't about to let Keiko become some zombie freak hell bent on world domination for Hiei's cause. Fuck that.

"What's his problem, anyways?" I mumbled to myself, clearly not happy. "Is he just pissed that he's so short? I guess I would be too," I continued. Maybe I could just sit on him. Or hold the sword out of reach or something.

"What are you mumbling about?" Botan asked, placing her hands on her hips. I scowled and ignored her, swallowing my nervousness and marching up to the warehouse. "Uh, Yusuke! Hold on! You aren't just going to barge in there without a plan, are you?"

I grit my teeth together in annoyance. "That's exactly what I'm going to do. No doubt the little psychopath already knows I'm here. There's no point in trying to sneak in and surprise him." I was fairly certain I was going to get my ass kicked either way, to be honest. But there was also no point in telling Botan that. Without stopping to say my prayers, I yanked the warehouse door open and stepped inside, Botan right behind me.

* * *

I leaned back against the wall, breathing heavy. I was exhausted, in pain, and still a bit pissed off. One thing was for certain; Hiei was definitely a homicidal maniac if there ever was one. He had the cackle down and everything, not to mention he turned green and raged out on me. He stood in front of me, eyes wide with surprise as the various eyes covering his body began to close. I didn't know what the hell he was looking at me like that for; I told him I was going to kick his ass. Well, I told myself that at least. And that's pretty much what counts. His green skin returned to normal, as did the Jagan eye located on his forehead as he slightly reached out for me. He looked…astounded.

I was fairly certain I was going to see a promise to kill me out of revenge in his eyes, but instead, they were merely curious. Definitely confused and surprised, but there was something else that I couldn't quite place my finger on. I wish he'd stop looking at me like that. I didn't realize how fucking red his eyes were. I thought it was just the crazed blood lust that made them look like that.

"You're…pretty clever," he told me. I blinked a few times in wonder and stared at him as his face finally went slack. His Jagan eye closed first, and finally that look fell from his red eyes as they went strangely blank, and then they closed. He fell forward; arm still outstretched, and lay unconscious before me. I stared at him a while longer before letting out a breath I wasn't aware I was holding, feeling more unsettled than I had since I started this whole mess. I trumped it up to me almost dying and finally stood. Hiei was no longer my problem; the Spirit World would decide what to do with him now.

Who the hell had red eyes, anyways?


	2. Sweet Snow

**Author's Note:** Hello again! Here's another update. I hope you're liking it so far. This is another embarrassingly short one. I apologize. xD. Then again, some of them will be so long you'll want to rip your eyes out. So we'll see what happens. Thanks to those who have read so far and reviewed! It really means a lot to me. Enjoy! (:

**Disclaimer: **If you recognize it, I don't own it.

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**Closer to the Edge**

_Prompt 002: Sweet Snow_

"So they really don't have ice cream in Makai?" I asked, watching with curiosity and amusement as Hiei shoveled more ice cream into his mouth. I was fairly certain he was hiding a fat kid in there, to be honest. His eyes flicked up momentarily to look at me before returning to his treat.

"No." I deadpanned at the flat answer he gave but eventually sighed and let it go, placing my head in my hand as I ate more of my own ice cream. We were silent for a while before I noticed Hiei's eating noises had stopped. My eyes slowly slid back over to him, only to find him staring intently at me. I twitched in surprise and let my hand fall in confusion.

"What the hell are you staring at me for?" I asked.

Hiei blinked very slowly and pushed his bowl towards me. "I would like more of the flavored sweet snow."

Now I was definitely confused. "Sweet snow?"

He scowled at me and I could have sworn I saw him jut out his lower lip in a pout. "Frozen water is called snow, is it not? Humans have somehow flavored it and made it sweet. It is sweet snow. I want some more." I scratched the tip of my nose in amusement and tried to hide my grin, and was mostly failing, despite the vicious death glare I was receiving.

"Well, if you want to get technical about it. But there's other things in this besides frozen water. It's actually more like frozen milk and cream." Hiei didn't look like he understood what I was saying. I sighed and let my hand fall into my lap again. "It's called ice cream, Hiei."

"Yusuke?"

"Hmm?" I asked, lazily licking off what was left on my own spoon.

"Yusuke, I don't care what it's called. I want more. Now," he said between clenched teeth. I looked at him, and he was apparently dead serious. He was doing that weird twitchy thing with his eye whenever he got homicidal and quite frankly, I didn't want to deal with a parlor shop full of dead people just so Hiei could stuff his inner fatty. With a grunt I stood up and went over to the counter and ordered another bowl, five scoops this time, of vanilla flavored ice cream. I let the bowl fall a little harder onto the table than was necessary, but Hiei didn't seem to even notice. He pulled the bowl towards him and picked up his spoon, digging in once more.

"How can they not have ice cream in Makai?" I asked under my breath, sitting down opposite of him once again. I got an idea then and picked up my spoon, inching it towards Hiei's bowl. "You've got a lot of ice cream there. How about you share a little?" I asked with a grin. Hiei's hand snatched the end of my spoon and he glared at me, and I could feel the spoon getting rather hot in my own hand.

"No," he growled out. I had to let go of the spoon before it burned my skin, and I crossed my arms and glared at him.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're a complete and total brat?" I asked, clearly mad. Hiei's eyes flickered to me once again before returning to his food. The sarcasm in my voice apparently went right over his head, probably because he's so damn short.

"Kurama says it all the time."

Well, looks like fox boy really is a genius.


	3. Gate of Betrayal

**Author's Note:** Third chapter! Wooh! This one is an actual canon scene, so you'll recognize a lot of the dialogue because I took it straight from the episode. But the chapter as a whole has my own twist and take to it, so some of the dialogue is different and some of it's the same. I promise the next chapter will actually have some physical touching between the two. xD. Thanks so much to those who have reviewed, followed, and favorited! I really appreciate it. Makes me want to write more. :3 Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **If you recognize it, I don't own it.

* * *

**Closer to the Edge**

_Prompt 003: Gate of Betrayal_

I couldn't quite place my finger on it, but something was definitely different about Hiei. For one thing, that psychotic look in his eye wasn't there. The cackling was gone and the homicidal tendencies didn't seem to be present. Then he opened his mouth and spoke and I was reminded of his foul attitude. But hey, if it was a fight he wanted, it was a fight he would get. Although for some reason his vow for revenge didn't seem so heartfelt, only wanting a rematch. I was, at the very least, glad that I was getting help (even if that help was forced for some people) to take down these Saint Beast.

Although, I really wasn't a huge fan of Hiei and Kuwabara bickering like a bunch of children. In fact, by the time we actually got to the front gate, I could actually feel a vein in my forehead throbbing and the beginning of a headache exploding behind my eyes. What a pain in the ass. Hiei kept gravitating towards Kurama, and I wondered vaguely if it was just because Kurama was a demon like him or if it was because they were closer than they appeared. They weren't exactly on good terms the last time I saw them together.

"Let's go," I muttered, suddenly irritated. I wish everyone would quit bickering; I have enough shit to deal with. We walked through some creepy hallway, but were stopped by a purple bat with nothing but a huge eye in the center of it. What the hell was that?

"Welcome to Maze Castle," the talking eye bat greeted. Even its voice was annoying.

"Woah! It talked!" Kuwabara exclaimed, clearly freaked out. He better get used to it. The talking eye bat wasn't finished talking, however.

"Those who enter Maze Castle must be tried by the Gate of Betrayal."

That didn't sound good. "What do you mean tried?" The eye bat flew back towards a wall and revealed a panel, using one of its freaky tentacle things to pull the level up. There was a rumbling sound that did not sound good at all.

"Urameshi, why did you have to ask?" Kuwabara whined. Kurama looked up at gasped.

"The ceiling!" We didn't have much time to react, because a second later all four of us instinctively put our arms up to catch the falling ceiling. I grunted with effort as I realized what just happened. Definitely not good.

"Heavy, isn't it? Sensors in the corridor are most intelligent, and a complex of gears adapt the ceiling's weight precisely to the strength of its victims. Of course, there is a catch. Just enough lee-way remains for one person to escape, leaving their friends to be crushed by the weight." The eye bat looked giddy at the thought.

"Dammit," I cursed between clenched teeth. I was clearly not happy.

"But decisions must be made quickly. Not even the four of you combined can hold the ceiling for long. Insist on teamwork, and everyone will be crushed. Only by turning against your friends will one of you be able to escape. Only the traitor among you deserves to enter Maze Castle. That's why it's called the Gate of Betrayal, you see?" The eye bat finished, laughing now. I wanted to shoot my spirit gun straight into its stupid eyeball. Hiei and Kuwabara were bickering again.

"Shut it, Kuwabara!" I yelled, trying to think. If someone could just get to that damn lever. And now Hiei was planning on ditching. I turned only a fraction to look at him out of the corner of my eye. He looked like he was ready to bolt. "Oh man! I knew we should have played some trust games." The ceiling was getting heavier and the eye bat was laughing again. I was getting frustrated.

"This has always been my favorite part of the trial. Watching the way you squirm as your muscles begin to pop and tear under the ceiling's weight. But of course, the best is your eyes. Seeing the gears of thought turn in desperation, thinking, questioning yourself. How long can I hold this? Will I die this way? Will one friend betray us and escape while we flatten? Or shall I be the one?" The eye bat was at it again, laughing and yapping and annoying the living hell out of me. It needed to die. Kuwabara and Hiei were bickering once more. I couldn't take much more of this shit.

"Hiei!" I suddenly yelled, turning around a fraction again to look at him. He looked back at me, red eyes full of confusion and puzzlement. "You're a lot faster than any of us. If we all put as much energy we have into holding the ceiling up, it should give you all the time you need to get to the switch before it crushes us." Kuwabara clearly wasn't happy with that plan. Hiei's eyes darted to Kuwabara in annoyance before returning to look at me, a small smirk on his face.

"Your ugly friend has a good point, Detective," Hiei started, once again ignoring Kuwabara's comment to being ugly. "Are you sure you want to trust me? I've already vowed my revenge on you, maybe I'll handle that now."

He was trying to be such a tough guy, but I didn't buy it. And I had no idea why I didn't buy it; I certainly knew he was capable of it. His face was just too open for some reason. I completely disregarded his comment. "I'll let out all the Spirit energy I have, you just get to the switch. Don't trip." He scoffed and looked like he was about to argue again, but I shook my head. "I trust you, Hiei." I don't know why I said it. I didn't even mean to say it. He certainly looked stunned. "Now go!" I released my Spirit energy. Hiei removed his hands from the ceiling and with one final look he blurred out of my site and he was suddenly in front of the switch. Damn he was fast. Something was wrong though. He stopped in front of the switch, hand outstretched, but he didn't touch it.

"What's the deal?! Pull the stupid switch already!" Kuwabara yelled, obviously distressed. I wasn't going to be able to hold the extra weight for long. The eye bat hovered next to Hiei, speaking to him. I couldn't exactly hear them, but Hiei suddenly smirked and started to laugh.

"What are you laughing at?" Kuwabara asked. Hiei laughed some more.

"Take a guess, you fool!"

Kuwabara scowled with anger. "Damn you!" he called out. I was a little worried, but Hiei's eyes locked with mine once more, and something told me he was bluffing. But for what? And there was that damn look again, the same one he gave me in the warehouse. The bat eye laughed.

"A wise choice. The boulder would have crushed you anyway," it said happily, turning it's back. Hiei suddenly looked at it with a vicious snarl.

"Thanks for the clue!" he yelled, pulling his katana out so fast and slashing it across the eye bat's eye that I could barely see it. He pulled the switch up, and just as the weight was finally taken off of my shoulders, a huge boulder came crashing down on top of Hiei. My throat clogged and I ran forward.

"Hiei!" I called out, looking for him. The dust cleared and Hiei was standing on top of the boulder, his katana pointed towards the yelping eye bat that was having trouble flying.

"Tell your masters, this is their chance to beg for mercy!"

All right, so maybe he was kind of a badass. That's cool. I bent over and let out a sigh of relief, Kuwabara asking if I was okay. I snorted and felt around my shoulders. "Oh yeah, I just can't feel my arms right now." Hiei jumped down from the boulder and refused to look at us, instead looking at the ground and pursing his lips a little. He almost looked sheepish. "I knew you'd save us, you punk," I started, grinning a little. "Hell of an actor. You know, not everyone can pretend to laugh at their dying friends."

Hiei scoffed. "Hah. Friends are a crutch for the week, and I wasn't acting." Kuwabara wasn't pleased to hear that, but Hiei pointed at us. "Don't confuse it. The only reason I saved you was because I might need your help." And with that, he turned and stalked down the path and up into the castle. Kurama chuckled besides me.

"That's his way of saying you're welcome. You will learn," he assured me. I couldn't stop the corner of my lips from turning upwards into a smile. We caught up with him and I found myself falling in step besides him. He looked at me out of the corner of his eye, and I looked at him out of the corner of mine. After a moment he looked away and scoffed again.

But this time, he stayed in step besides me instead of gravitating towards Kurama like he did before.


	4. Demon

**Author's Note:** As promised, there's some physical touching between the two in this chapter. xD. I hope you like it. I actually had something different in mind when I wrote this, but this somehow came out instead. So we'll see if I can write what I had originally planned in some other chapter. Thank you so much to those who have reviewed, favorited, and followed. It makes me really happy and I hope you continue. :3 Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **If you recognize it, I don't own it.

* * *

**Closer to the Edge**

_Prompt 004: Demon_

I was beside myself tonight, and for the life of me I couldn't figure out what was more pressing. I sat on a chair in my living room and stared out through the glass of the sliding door that led to the balcony. Overhead was the moon, big as I've ever seen it. I deftly placed my hand over my heart again and waited, eyes never leaving the moon. I waited and listened for two minutes— nothing. With a scowl I let my hand fall. My heart still wasn't beating. At least not in any rhythm or pattern that I could pick up. How many times can someone say they've died, not once, but twice? And even more, how many of them can say they died as a human and came back as a demon? Or maybe it was half demon. Whatever the hell I was now.

I thought about the fight with Sensui and I just got angry all over again. I grit my teeth in annoyance and allowed my spirit energy to flare outwards, the blue energy rolling off of me like steam. I looked at it in wonder as I noticed little sparks of red demon energy. It wasn't very much, but it was enough to make me pause. I wanted to stay in demon world and look for that bastard. I wanted it more than I've wanted anything, and that thought in itself was a little overwhelming.

"If you give off anymore spirit energy you'll alert the Oaf from all the way across town," a voice said from the other side of the room. I twitched in surprise and looked out of the corner of my eye. The only thing I could see from the shadows was crimson colored eyes, and they were currently fixated on mine. We stared at each other for a long time.

"Come over here."

There was a quick flurry of movement before I was enveloped by heat and my head was yanked back, the smell of ashes and burning wood surrounding me. His mouth started fervently moving against mine and then I just stopped thinking about everything. And then my heart gave a rather dull thud against my chest and I cursed, leaning back slightly to stare down at my chest.

"Having problems?" Hiei asked, his voice rougher than it was when he first came in here. I cleared my throat.

"This whole demon heartbeat thing is really starting to piss me off. What's the deal?" I asked. He seemed to be hesitating for a moment before he let out a huff of air and placed his hand over my chest. His skin burned against mine in a way that made me want to forget about everything again.

He looked at me again and said, "You will get used to it. A demon heart beats a lot slower than a human heart does. As for how slow, well…that depends on the demon." There was that word again. I frowned. He titled his head to the side, but he didn't have to ask what was wrong. I let my forehead fall forward onto his own chest and wrapped my arms around him, my hands sneaking into the folds of his coat and under his shirt and finally resting against the bare skin of his back. He hissed. "Your hands are fucking cold."

"You're so warm," I muttered. I could almost hear him rolling his eyes and bit back a smile. "Maybe the chill of death is still hanging over me, 'cause I can't seem to warm up." Hiei's entire body went completely rigid and I looked up at him, confused. He was glaring at the wall behind me and grinding his teeth. "Hiei?" He didn't answer me, but instead gripped my arms in his hands and pulled them from where they were, letting them drop back into my lap. What was his problem?

"You—" he started, his voice angry now. He let out a scowl and turned away from me, apparently unable to finish his sentence, and moved to stand directly in front of the door with his back to me. I blinked a few times, still confused. I missed his warmth. I really was cold. Probably because I was sitting in my living room in nothing but sleeping shorts.

"Hey, if you've got something to say, then say it," I told him, getting uncomfortable with his silence. He was still clearly angry about something. Hiei looked at me angrily.

"Just what exactly were you trying to prove with that little stunt of yours?" he asked, his voice clipped and cold. He really was pissed. I tilted my head to the side.

"Stunt?"

He growled and turned to face me once more. "Don't play stupid. The stunt you pulled when you allowed Sensui to kill you." Did he—? Now I was getting a little angry.

"Hiei, that wasn't a stunt. I did that for a reason." I crossed my arms and gave him a glare of my own; his never lessened.

"For someone who is usually a genius when it comes to fighting, that was really fucking stupid. Not only did your little stunt not work, but also it actually angered Kuwabara enough to cut through the barrier. You gave Sensui exactly what he wanted. And for what?" he asked me, beginning to visibly shake. My own anger snuffed out a little. I stood and crossed the room to stand in front of him, but he quickly expelled his youki and it knocked me backwards. Bastard. I used my speed this time and before he could stop me I quickly reached out and my hand gripped around his throat.

"Knock it off," I told him, pulling him towards me. He seethed with anger and gripped my arm, his hand emitting a lot of heat that was burning hot against my skin. "Stop it," I hissed between clenched teeth. He continued to fight against me and I finally managed to kick his leg out from under him. He fell and I landed on top of him, gripping both of his hands in my own. "Hiei, stop!" I yelled this time. "Look, at the time, I thought I was doing what was best. I know how powerful and strong you guys are, and I knew that power would only increase if something pushed you. You guys were the best chance the human world had."

Hiei scoffed. "Oh, yeah, we were so strong. Not only did we give Sensui exactly what he wanted but we couldn't even fucking touch him." I blinked and titled my head a little again. At least he stopped struggling against me. For now at least. "So much for that genius plan," he said bitterly.

"You're just never happy, are you?" I asked then, laughing a little. He glared at me again and I could feel him tensing up. "Sensui had to use his sacred energy just to keep you guys from killing him. And it's not like I knew about that before hand. Besides, it turns out that dying helped more than anything. I came back as this half-breed Mazoku…thing."

He was quiet for a while, his eyes not so much angry anymore, but there was something there I wasn't quite catching. "Toushin," he said quietly.

"What the fuck is that?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. The corner of his mouth twitched upwards into a smile, briefly anyways.

"The demon blood running through you. Your ancestral father who gave you the Mazoku gene. His race. Toushin," he tried again. I sat up a little then, curious.

"Toushin, huh? Well, that's something. What else do you know about this guy?" I asked. I didn't think to ask Hiei about it, because I didn't think he knew. Which was incredibly stupid considering how he's a demon who has lived in Makai his entire life with the exception of the past few years. Another score for my genius brain. Hiei suddenly sat up, and because I wasn't expecting it, He quickly maneuvered me onto my back and straddled me. I wasn't exactly complaining.

"Raizen. One of the three leaders in Makai. His species has to live on human flesh to survive. He is…powerful, Yusuke. More powerful than I can really articulate," he answered. "But last I checked, he was still starving himself. So he has gotten considerably weaker."

"Starving himself?" I asked, confused again. Hiei nodded.

"Raizen stopped eating humans some time ago. I don't know why. But it was causing quite the political rift when I was still living in Makai. I have no idea of his condition now or if he's still in power or not. I suspect he is, otherwise Yomi or Mukuro would have taken over by now." I had no idea what the fuck he was talking about, and he apparently noticed. He smirked a little and shook his head. "Demon politics. It's not important."

I nodded. "So, if he's starving himself, does that mean he's not as powerful?" I tried to be all nonchalant about it. Unfortunately, I was talking to Hiei, and he always had the ability to see right through me. Even without the use of the Jagan. His eyes narrowed at me.

"Raizen is not as powerful as he should be since he started starving himself. But do not mistake that for weakness. Raizen is still the most powerful demon in Makai and even in his current state he could make Sensui look like an ill trained idiot with absolutely no real power to speak of." I let his words sink in and wrap around my head a little.

"Holy shit."

"Is this demon thing really bothering you?" he suddenly asked. I focused back onto him and frowned. Eventually I just shrugged. I'm such a fantastic conversationalist. But honestly, I didn't really want to talk about it anymore. Hiei and I were never exactly good at the whole 'talking' thing, despite the fact that we probably really needed to talk more. I still didn't answer, and instead pulled the scarf from around his neck and tossed it to the other side of the room. His coat came next, and he sat up a little and unstrapped his katana, laying it next to us. He tugged his shirt off and I made an appreciative noise in the back of my throat, allowing my still chilled hands to trace and run across all the hard lines and dips in Hiei's skin. Eventually he gripped my hands and held them over my head, fully lying against me. I tried to kiss him, but the little bastard kept pulling away at the last second.

"Don't tease," I muttered, displeased. Hiei didn't look amused though. Was he angry again? Finally he let out a huff of air and pushed my head up, his mouth trailing a path of heat from the hollow of my throat to right behind my ear. My hands tightened in his and I moaned, squirming a little.

"Yusuke," he started, his breath at my ear. "I prefer you much better when you're alive." He released my hands and I immediately wrapped them around him and laughed a little.

"I love it when you're sentimental and sweet," I teased. He looked at me with a glare, but it was only half hearted. "Don't worry, Hiei. I prefer you much better when I'm alive, too." This time he couldn't stop the small chuckle from his mouth, and I grinned. "I'm so funny."

"Yeah, you're hilarious," he responded in sarcasm, rolling his eyes a little. He kissed me then, hard, until I felt lightheaded and dizzy. "No more talking." I laughed a little, slowly forgetting about all the problems and bullshit and just concentrating on the way he felt against me.

"Finally."


End file.
